# Is the recent drop in violent crime due to banning lead in gasoline? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 30, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-recent-drop-in-violent-crime-due-to-banning-lead-in-gasoline/642569 "2012-11-30T14:27:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-recent-drop-in-violent-crime-due-to-banning-lead-in-gasoline/642569/81 "2013-01-30T02:07:01Z")
Rick Nevin is an economist. He has no training in medicine or public health. He’s not a statistician either. What this claim needs is the equivalent of the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking (and the earlier British Royal College of Physicians Report). Proving this claim requires looking at many different studies. If lead is as bad as claimed, it should have affected many things, not just the crime rate. I suspect that the effects of lead are as bad as claimed, which is why this claim needs to be publicized as widely as possible, and the best way to do that is to have a big official report on the subject pulling together everything known about what the effects of lead are: > **[Rick Nevin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Nevin)** > > Rick Nevin is an economic consultant who acts as an adviser to the National Center for Healthy Housing and has worked on the Federal Strategy to eliminate childhood lead poisoning. Amongst other research, he has published papers in the journal Environmental Research claiming to demonstrate a link between environmental lead exposure and violent crime in the United States and in nine countries worldwide. This research has been publicized in the press by a Washington Post article in July 20 > This b... > **[Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_and_Health:_Report_of_the_Advisory_Committee_to_the_Surgeon_General_of_the_United_States)** > > Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States was a landmark report published on January 11, 1964, by the Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health, chaired by the then Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Luther Leonidas Terry, M.D., regarding the negative health effects of tobacco smoking. > The health effects of tobacco had been debated by users, medical experts, and governments alike since its introduction to European ... ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-recent-drop-in-violent-crime-due-to-banning-lead-in-gasoline/642569/82 "2013-01-30T02:23:21Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Rick Nevin is an economist. He has no training in medicine or public health. He’s not a statistician either. What this claim needs is the equivalent of the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking (and the earlier British Royal College of Physicians Report). Proving this claim requires looking at many different studies. If lead is as bad as claimed, it should have affected many things, not just the crime rate. I suspect that the effects of lead are as bad as claimed, which is why this claim needs to be publicized as widely as possible, and the best way to do that is to have a big official report on the subject pulling together everything known about what the effects of lead are: > > [Rick Nevin - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Nevin) > > [Smoking and Health - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_and_Health:_Report_of_the_Advisory_Committee_to_the_Surgeon_General_of_the_United_States) Ya. We’ll put it up there with lawn herbicides, vaccines, and fluoridated water. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-recent-drop-in-violent-crime-due-to-banning-lead-in-gasoline/642569/83 "2013-01-30T12:54:42Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Ya. We’ll put it up there with lawn herbicides, vaccines, and fluoridated water. What’s so implausible about it? I’m not saying that it’s settled, but we know there’s a correlation, and (unlike the other conspiracy theories you bring up) we actually have a mechanism of action (we know a lot about the effects lead can have upon the brain, and it includes behavioral and developmental problems). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-recent-drop-in-violent-crime-due-to-banning-lead-in-gasoline/642569.md?page=4)